Regarding the speakers. The original sound drivers have some major issues on these machines. Mine was awful out of the box. Putting in the new drivers fixes the subwoofer issues and gives the regular speakers a little more oomph (though they're still a little too quiet for this machine).

Overall a really solid laptop. I sold my G73 and got one of these and have been very happy with the improvements in the G series. I put in 256GB Crucial M4 in it and grabbed the Everki Titan as well :D. Awesome backpack. Build quality is phenomenal, but it is freaking huge. I'm just about 6' and have a reasonably wide back from working out and the thing looks almost comical on me when I wear it.

Really good review Doup, I kept meaning to do one myself, but never seem to find the time.